This invention relates generally to an energy efficient gas generating conveyor tunnel oven for use for heating and curing a variety of items moving along a continuous conveyor.
The curing of many types of ink, coatings, and other items, is generally done by the conventional tunnel type oven. These tunnel ovens provide a heated airflow that flows over the items. Many of the items that are cured, such as inks and coatings, however, are made up of one hundred percent solids. There are no solvents or moisture that must be evaporated during the heating or curing process. Thus, curing ovens that are used just for that purpose to cure a particular item, such as a polymer, inks, coatings, or the like, frequently require a different type of heat energy, such as infrared energy or radiant heat, for accomplishing this type of task, without any air flow, or the like.
Tunnel ovens have been available upon the market for industrial, commercial, and other usage, for some time. Continuous conveyors, likewise, are known. Heating systems used in conjunction with such a conveyor, however, have not been significantly improved upon. Most of the heaters previously known to the art generate heated air that flows onto the conveyed items to provide for heating, shrink-wrapping, or the like.